New ZLine bunkers help Tillery go private

MOUNT GILEAD, North Carolina – The Tillery Tradition course in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina was bought by a group of local business owners in 2021. From the start, the ultimate aim of the new owners was for the course to become a private club, which it did at the start of 2026. And the course’s bunkers, which have been rebuilt using the ZLine system, were a key part of that.

“The course opened in 2000, and was built by local asphalt company JTR Russell and Sons,” says course superintendent Corey Hraczo. “We’re in the Uwharrie Mountain Rand, and the soils are clay and rock, so not ideal for golf. When I came here in 2021, one of our biggest hurdles was the bunkers. They were not constructed in a way that made them easy or efficient to maintain – no liner and minimal drainage. Every time it rained, they washed out, and rocks would come up through the sand. It was a mess.

“I started trying to come up with a cost-effective plan to rebuild our bunkers. We only have eighteen, but they are massive, just huge. We wanted to do them in-house, which meant we could proceed at our own pace, control costs, and maintain our quality standards throughout the project.”

Hraczo’s desire to build the bunkers in-house led him to select the ZLine liner system. 

“My maintenance crew built bunkers for the first two winters, and this last winter, Rex Davis of R&A Turf came in and rebuilt one – he’s returning in August to do three more.”

Tillery is still a way from having entirely new bunkers, but Hraczo says those that have been rebuilt already show the wisdom of the decision. 

“The new bunkers drain so much better, can be put back into play after rain in a fraction of the time, and we aren’t getting anything like as much contamination,” he says. “I’m really happy with the ZLine product, especially its ease of installation, and I’m very glad we chose it.”